Handheld electronic device providing feedback to facilitate navigation and the entry of information, and associated method

ABSTRACT

A method of facilitating the input of information in a handheld electronic device having a plurality of input elements such as, without limitation, keys. The method includes receiving a signal indicating that a particular one of the input elements is being touched in a first manner, providing a feedback signal, such as a sound or graphic, that identifies the particular input element after the signal is received, and performing a function associated with the particular input element when it is being touched in a second manner. Also, a handheld electronic device that includes an input apparatus having a plurality of input elements, a processor, and a memory in electronic communication with the processor. The memory stores one or more routines executable by the processor for implementing the method described above.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, moreparticularly, to a handheld electronic device having a system forproviding feedback to a user to facilitate navigation and informationentry. The invention also relates to a method of facilitating navigationand information entry on a handheld electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art

Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples ofsuch handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal dataassistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellulartelephones, and the like. Such handheld electronic devices are generallyintended to be portable and thus are relatively small. Many handheldelectronic devices also feature wireless communication capabilityalthough many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devicesthat are functional without communication with other devices.

Handheld electronic devices that provide cellular telephone capabilitiesoften are used in automobiles, frequently while the user is driving theautomobile. A user typically must take his eyes off the road to performa telephone dialing operation on the keyboard of the handheld electronicdevice which is undesirable, even if it happens only momentarily.Handheld electronic devices are also used when walking and doing otheractivities, and a user typically must look at the device to performvarious input operations, such as telephone dialing or navigation, whichis likewise undesirable. Furthermore, handheld electronic devices can bedifficult for visually impaired individuals to use, particularly thosedevices that include an unconventional keyboard, such as a reducedQWERTY keyboard. Thus, there is a need to provide a handheld electronicdevice that facilities the performance of input operations in situationswhere it is undesirable or impossible for the user to look at thedevice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other advantages are provided by a method of facilitating theinput of information in a handheld electronic device having a pluralityof input elements such as, without limitation, keys. The method includesreceiving a signal indicating that a particular one of the inputelements is being touched in a first manner, providing a feedback signalthat identifies the particular input element after the signal isreceived, and performing a function associated with the particular inputelement when it is being touched in a second manner.

In one particular embodiment, the providing step comprises providing thefeedback in the form of an audible sound that identifies the particularinput element. The audible sound may comprise one or more spoken wordsof a digit, a symbol, or a function name associated with the inputelement. In the case of this embodiment, the providing step may furtherinclude accessing a particular stored sound tag representative of theaudible sound and generating the audible sound using the particularstored sound tag. In addition, a plurality of stored sound tags maycorrespond to the particular one of the input elements, wherein theparticular stored sound tag that is used is one of the plurality ofstored sound tags chosen based upon a current state of the handheldelectronic device, such as the application currently being used.Alternatively, the providing step may comprise displaying a graphic,such as an enlarged graphic, on a display of the handheld electronicdevice that identifies the particular input element.

According to the method, the first manner of touching may comprisetouching the particular one of the input elements with a first pressureand the second manner of touching may comprise touching the particularone of the input elements with a second pressure that is greater thanthe first pressure.

The invention also relates to a handheld electronic device that includesan input apparatus having a plurality of input elements such as keys, aprocessor, and a memory in electronic communication with the processor.The memory stores one or more routines executable by the processor forimplementing the various embodiments of the method described above.

In one embodiment, the particular input element is a key forming a partof a key assembly. The key assembly has a sensor system that is inelectronic communication with the processor. The sensor system generatesand communicates to the processor the key indicating signal when the keyis touched in the first manner. The sensor system may include a straingauge wherein the key indicating signal comprises a voltage signalgenerated by the strain gauge in response to a first pressure exerted onthe strain gauge by the key. In addition, the sensor system may furtherinclude a collapsible dome, with the strain gauge being located betweenthe key and the collapsible dome. The collapsible dome is fullycollapsed in response to at least a second pressure, greater then thefirst pressure, being exerted on the collapsible dome by the key,wherein the function associated with the key is performed when thecollapsible dome is fully collapsed. Alternatively, the sensor systemmay include a double action switch, with the key indicating signal beinggenerated in response to a first pressure exerted on the double actionswitch by the key, and the function associated with the key beingperformed when at least a second pressure, greater than the firstpressure, is exerted on the double action switch by the key.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full understanding of the invention can be gained from the followingDescription of the Preferred Embodiment when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of a key assemblyforming a part of the handheld electronic device shown in FIGS. 1-3; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a key assemblyforming a part of the handheld electronic device shown in FIGS. 1-3.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An improved handheld electronic device 4 in accordance with theinvention is indicated generally in FIGS. 1-3. Examples of handheldelectronic devices are included in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,452,588 and6,489,950 which are incorporated by reference herein. The handheldelectronic device 4 includes a housing 8, a display 12, an inputapparatus 16, and a processor apparatus 20.

The exemplary input apparatus 16 includes a keyboard 24 having aplurality of keys 28, a thumbwheel 32, an <ESCAPE> key 36, and atelephone key 40 (FIG. 2). The thumbwheel 32 is rotatable to provide aplurality of navigational inputs to the processor apparatus 20. Thethumbwheel 32 also is translatable in the direction of the arrow 42 ofFIG. 1 to provide a selecting input to the processor apparatus 20. Thekeyboard 24 includes a number of key assemblies 80 described in greaterdetail below in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5.

The processor apparatus 20 includes a processor 44, a memory 48, adigital-to-analog converter 52, an amplifier 56, and an audible outputtransducer 60. The processor 44 may be, for example and withoutlimitation, a microprocessor (μP) or other type of processor. The memory48 is adapted to cooperate with the processor 44 and may be any of avariety of internal an/or external storage media including RAM, ROM,EPROM, EEPROM, and/or the like, alone or in combination. The memory 48stores a plurality of sound tags 50 and one or more routines 54executable by processor 44 for the processing of data. The routines canbe in any of a variety of forms such as, without limitation, software,firmware, and the like, and shall include one or more subroutines,processes, procedures function calls or the like, alone or incombination. The sound tags 50 are representative of spoken words ofdigits, symbols, and/or function names that are associated with the keys28 of keyboard 24. The sound tags 50 may be stored in the memory 48 as.wav files or in other suitable formats, and may be representative ofspoken words in the English language or other languages. Memory 48stores a number of sound tags 50, each of which corresponds to aparticular key 28 on keyboard 24. As explained in greater detail below,the sounds tags 50 may, according to the invention, be used to generatefeedback to a user of handheld electronic device 4 that indicates whichkey 28 is currently being touched.

Each of a number of, and preferably all of, keys 28 of keyboard 24 ispart of a key assembly 80, one embodiment of which is shownschematically in FIG. 4. Key assembly 80 includes a sensor system 82 fordetecting which particular key 28 is being touched at any particulartime and for providing a signal indicating same to processor 44.Preferably, key assembly 80 is a two stage system, wherein a first touchor press of a key 28 at a pressure that is less than some predeterminedamount will result in the key indicating signal described above beingsent to processor 44, and a second touch or press of the key 28 at apressure that is greater than the predetermined amount will result inthe function associated with the key being performed (e.g., the input ofa particular letter or number associated with the key).

Referring to FIG. 4, each key assembly 80 includes a respective key 28partially disposed within housing 8 of handheld electronic device 4. Inparticular, each key 28 is inserted through a respective hole 84provided in housing 8 such that a top portion 86 of each key 28 extendsoutwardly form housing 8 and a bottom protruding portion 88 of each key28 is disposed within housing 8.

In addition, the embodiment of key assembly 80 shown in FIG. 4 furtherincludes a metal or carbon coated collapsible dome 90 that is connectedat each end to first and second electrical traces 92 and 94,respectively, provided on handheld electronic device PCB 96. Inaddition, a central portion of collapsible dome 90 is disposed over athird electrical trace 98 provided on handheld electronic device PCB 96.As will be appreciated, when sufficient force (more than a certainpredetermined level) is applied to key 28, it causes collapsible dome 90to collapse such that the central portion of collapsible dome 90 comesinto contact with electrical trace 98, thereby completing the circuitthat comprises electrical traces 92, 94 and 98. When the circuit thatcomprises electrical traces 92, 94 and 98 is so completed, a signalcorresponding to the function of key 28 is sent to processor 44.

As seen in FIG. 4, a strain gauge 100 is provided between bottomprotruding portion 88 and collapsible dome 90, such as part of alaminate structure applied to the top surface of collapsible dome 90.Strain gauge 100 may take any of a number of known forms, such as,without limitation, a piezoelectric film piece. As is known in the art,piezoelectric film is a flexible, lightweight plastic, such as, withoutlimitation, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its copolymers, PVC ornylon, that generates an electrical voltage that is proportional to aforce that is applied to it. Strain gauge 100 acts as a transducingelement that converts mechanical energy (force) into electrical energy(voltage), and in particular converts the force applied thereto byprotruding portion 88 resulting from pressure applied to key 28 by afinger or the like into a voltage signal. The strain gauge 100 iselectrically connected (not shown) to the processor 44, and thus can beused to generate the signal (described above) that indicates whichparticular key 28 is currently being pressed.

As will also be appreciated, various lower level forces may be appliedto key 28 shown in FIG. 4, each of which will cause collapsible dome 90to partially, rather than completely, collapse (this is often referredto as an intermediate press of key 28). In a partially collapsedcondition, the central portion of collapsible dome 90 will not come intocontact with electrical trace 98, and thus the circuit that compriseselectrical traces 92, 94 and 98 will not be completed. The force that isapplied to key 28 in such situations will, however, exert a force onstrain gauge 100, thereby generating a voltage signal that is sent toprocessor 44. As a result, the strain gauge 100 in cooperation with thekey 28 and collapsible dome 90 implement a two stage sensor system asdescribed above. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art,alternative components may be used to implement a sensor system 82. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5, a double action switch 102 may besubstituted for collapsible dome 90 and strain gauge 100 to provide atwo stage sensing system in which a first touch or press will generate afirst signal (indicative of which key 28 is being pressed), and asecond, harder press will generate a second signal (which initiates thefunction associated with the key 28). Any suitable known double actionswitch may be used for double action switch 102, a number of which aredescribed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,303,887 and 6,809,272, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. In addition,other parts of input apparatus 16, such as thumbwheel 32, <ESCAPE> key36, and telephone key 40, may similarly be provided with an assemblysimilar to key assembly 80 that includes a sensor system 82 forgenerating a signal indicating that part of input apparatus 16 is beingpressed.

Thus, in operation, a navigational or other input from the inputapparatus 16, e.g., an intermediate press of a key 28, will result in asignal being sent to the processor 44 that enables the processor 44 toidentify the particular part of input apparatus 16, e.g., the particularkey 28, that is being touched. The processor 44 then accesses the memory48 to retrieve the sound tag 50 that corresponds with the particularpart of input apparatus 16, e.g., the particular key 28. For example, anintermediate touch of the “5” key will result in the processor 44retrieving the sound tag 50 that corresponds to the “5” key, which soundtag preferably is representative of the spoken word “five.” Theprocessor 44 then provides this retrieved sound tag 50 in the form of asequence of digital values 64 (FIG. 3) to the digital-to-analogconverter 52 which converts this sequence into a time-varying analogsignal 68. The digital-to-analog converter 52 then provides thetime-varying analog signal 68, which corresponds with a spoken word(e.g., “five”), to the amplifier 56. The amplifier 56 then provides anamplified analog signal 72 to the audible output transducer 60 whichoutputs an audible sound representative of the spoken word. Theamplifier 56 may have an adjustable gain (not expressly depicted) thatis set by the processor 44. The audible output transducer 60 can be anyof an internal speaker, a separate loudspeaker, a headset speaker, orany other such device. Depending upon the nature of the audio outputtransducer 60, the gain of the amplifier 56 preferably is accordinglyadjusted by the processor 44.

As is known, some handheld electronic devices have keyboards that havekeys having multiple characters or symbols assigned thereto. Forexample, a cellular telephone typically has a keyboard having keyshaving letters and numbers assigned thereto. Similarly, some handheldelectronic devices have unconventional keyboards, such as a reducedQWERTY keyboard. Thus, according to a further aspect of the invention,keys 28 having multiple characters or symbols assigned thereto may havemultiple corresponding sound tags 50, and one or more routines 54 may beprovided in memory 48 that enable processor 44 to access different soundtags 50 depending on the current state of the handheld electronic device4, such as the application that is currently active. For example, in ahandheld electronic device 4 having a phone and an email application,the routines 54 may be adapted to cause numeric sound tags to beaccessed when the user is using the phone application, as alphabeticsound tags to be accessed when the user is using the email application.Alternatively, all of the multiple sound tags 50 corresponding to a key28 may be accessed and subsequently converted into sound feedback whenthe key 28 is pressed to let the user know of the different optionsavailable with that key 28.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, graphics,preferably enlarged graphics, may be substituted for sound tags 50. Inthis embodiment, once the particular key 28 or other input element thatis being touched is identified as described herein, the correspondinggraphic may be accessed from memory 48 and may be displayed on display12. As will be appreciated, the feedback in this form will beparticularly useful for the visually impaired to identify the particularkeys 28 or other input elements before completely depressing them (andinitiating the associated function).

Thus, by providing feedback in the form of the spoken words or graphicsthat correspond to particular keys 28, handheld electronic device 4according to the invention facilitates the performance of navigation anddata input or entry functions. This feedback will be advantageous insituations where actually looking at handheld electronic device 4 is notdesirable, such as in dangerous conditions like while driving, or notpossible due to physical limitations of the user, such as a visualimpairment.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, theparticular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only andnot limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given thefull breadth of the claims appended and any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A method of facilitating the input of information in a handheldelectronic device having a plurality of input elements, comprising:receiving a signal indicating that a particular one of said inputelements is being touched in a first manner; providing a feedback signalthat identifies said particular one of said input elements after saidsignal is received; and performing a function associated with saidparticular one of said input elements when said particular one of saidinput elements is being touched in a second manner.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said providing step comprises providing anaudible sound that identifies said particular one of said inputelements, said feedback comprising said audible sound.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein said audible sound comprises one or morespoken words of a digit, a symbol, or a function name associated withsaid particular one of said input elements.
 4. The method according toclaim 2, wherein said providing step further comprises accessing aparticular stored sound tag representative of said audible sound andgenerating said audible sound using said particular stored sound tag. 5.The method according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of stored soundtags correspond to said particular one of said input elements, saidparticular stored sound tag being one of said plurality of stored soundtags, said particular stored sound tag being chosen based upon a currentstate of said handheld electronic device.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, wherein said providing step comprises displaying a graphic on adisplay of said handheld electronic device that identifies saidparticular one of said input elements.
 7. The method according to claim1, wherein said first manner comprises touching said particular one ofsaid input elements with a first pressure, and wherein said secondmanner comprises touching said particular one of said input elementswith a second pressure, said second pressure being greater than saidfirst pressure.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein saidplurality of input elements comprise a plurality of keys.
 9. A handheldelectronic device, comprising: an input apparatus having a plurality ofinput elements; a processor; and a memory in electronic communicationwith said processor, said memory storing one or more routines executableby said processor, said one or more routines being adapted to: receive asignal indicating that a particular one of said input elements is beingtouched in a first manner; provide a feedback signal that identifiessaid particular one of said input elements after said signal isreceived; and perform a function associated with said particular one ofsaid input elements when said particular one of said input elements isbeing touched in a second manner.
 10. The handheld electronic deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein said particular one of input elementscomprises a key forming a part of a key assembly, said key assemblyhaving a sensor system, said sensor system being in electroniccommunication with said processor, said sensor system generating andcommunicating to said processor said signal when said key is touched insaid first manner.
 11. The handheld electronic device according to claim10, wherein said sensor system includes a strain gauge, said signalcomprising a voltage signal generated by said strain gauge in responseto a first pressure exerted on said strain gauge by said key, said firstmanner comprising touching said key with said first pressure.
 12. Thehandheld electronic device according to claim 11, wherein said sensorsystem further includes a collapsible dome, said strain gauge beinglocated between said key and said collapsible dome, said collapsibledome being fully collapsed in response to at least a second pressurebeing exerted on said collapsible dome by said key, said first pressurebeing less than said at least a second pressure, said second mannercomprising touching said key with said at least a second pressure, saidfunction being performed when said collapsible dome is fully collapsed.13. The handheld electronic device according to claim 11, said straingauge comprising a piece of piezoelectric film.
 14. The handheldelectronic device according to claim 10, wherein said sensor systemincludes a double action switch, said signal being generated in responseto a first pressure exerted on said double action switch by said key,said first manner comprising touching said key with said first pressure.15. The handheld electronic device according to claim 14, said functionbeing performed when at least a second pressure is exerted on saiddouble action switch by said key, said first pressure being less thansaid at least a second pressure, said second manner comprising touchingsaid key with said at least a second pressure.
 16. The handheldelectronic device according to claim 9, wherein said one or moreroutines are further adapted to provide an audible sound that identifiessaid particular one of said input elements, said feedback comprisingsaid audible sound.
 17. The handheld electronic device according toclaim 16, wherein said audible sound comprises one or more spoken wordsof a digit, a symbol, or a function name associated with said particularone of said input elements.
 18. The handheld electronic device accordingto claim 17, wherein said memory stores a plurality of stored soundtags, and wherein said one or more routines are further adapted toaccess a particular stored sound tag representative of said audiblesound, said audible sound being generated using said particular storedsound tag.
 19. The handheld electronic device according to claim 9,wherein said one or more routines are further adapted to provide saidfeedback by displaying a graphic on said display that identifies saidparticular one of said input elements.